Mass. native's wife killed in Afghanistan helicopter crash

Sara M. Knutson Cullen was married to Quincy's Chris Cullen

The wife of a Quincy man was among five soldiers killed in a helicopter crash in Afghanistan last week, the Patriot Ledger reported.

Capt. Sara M. (Knutson) Cullen, who married Chris Cullen of Quincy in November, was killed in Kandahar, Afghanistan on March 10, according to the Army. She was a native of Maryland.

The city council expressed condolences to Cullen during its meeting Monday night.

"It's just an incredible tragedy," said city councilor Joseph Finn, who knows Cullen's family.

According to the United States Military Academy at West Point, Knutson married a former Black Hawk pilot on Nov. 17, and was deployed to Afghanistan in January.

According to the academy, Knutson's husband deployed with a private contracting company in February to Afghanistan, and accompanied her body back to Dover Air Force Base.

The Army says the crew from the 3rd Aviation Regiment, 3rd Combat Aviation Brigade, was flying a routine training mission using night-vision goggles a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter at the time of the crash.